Will 'Law & Order' leave 'Gunsmoke' in the dust?

NEW YORK - "POPPA DON'T TAKE NO MESS!"

The outburst comes from Anthony Anderson, who is describing the essential qualities of Kevin Bernard, the latest detective to join NBC-TV's long-running "Law & Order." The fun-loving and funny Anderson debuted last season as Bernard and resumes busting bad guys on Wednesday with the season opener.

If Anderson has an off-camera "off switch," it's nowhere to be found this day as he shoots scenes inside Silver Screen Studios at Chelsea Piers, which houses the crime drama's precinct, district attorney's office, courthouse, prison and morgue. He bellows throughout the day, at one point jokingly scolding a crew member, "GET OFF THE TELEPHONE, WOMAN!" And he even speaks in tongues - "TELEMUNDO! OH, THIS IS A TELENOVELA!" - to describe an episode's plot twist involving double murder, DNA evidence and an illicit affair.

Anderson's outsized personality doubtless proved a draw for show creator Dick Wolf, who cast him as Detective Cyrus Lupo's (Jeremy Sisto) partner. Wolf hand-picks each police detective and prosecutor on "Law & Order," and deemed Anderson a "natural" successor to Detective Ed Green (Jesse L. Martin), citing his comic timing, screen presence and acting chops.

Another factor? Youth.

Anderson, 38, follows Sisto, 34, and Linus Roache, 44, as the third in a swift succession of young actors - well, young by "Law & Order" standards - recruited by Wolf for the 18th season, which concluded in May. The venerable series is a recent victim of near-cancellation, and fresh blood could be just the bait needed to lure the younger viewers that advertisers love and to keep the show going for another two decades.

"Law & Order" is returning to the air earlier than the announced date of early 2009, the result of an NBC schedule reshuffling to shore up the network's ratings as sweeps month begins. After almost two decades, this durable old veteran still has the juice to help rescue NBC's prime-time.

The new season has S. Epatha Merkerson (Lt. Anita Van Buren) remaining on duty, overseeing Sisto and Anderson; Roache as Chief Assistant District Attorney Michael Cutter, who succeeded Jack McCoy (Sam Waterston), the newly promoted district attorney. And Alana De La Garza (Executive Assistant District Attorney Connie Rubirosa) resumes her role.

But it remains to be seen whether the cast reshuffling will achieve Wolf's greatest ambition: to surpass "Gunsmoke" as the longest-running prime-time drama in the history of television.

Wolf, 61, has long voiced his desire to overtake the classic western, which ran from 1955-1975 on CBS; Wednesday's season premiere will herald 19 years for "Law & Order." "It's one to tie and two to win. I think after that, [we'll do] another 20," Wolf said.

But the TV mogul, who oversees the spinoffs "Law & Order: SVU" and "Law & Order: Criminal Intent," nearly lost his chance when NBC threatened to cancel after a sharp ratings drop last season.

Any plug-pulling seems preposterous, given the series' enduring status as the mother ship of one of the strongest franchises on TV. Wolf struck a last-minute deal to save the show in May 2007 by trading "Criminal Intent" to the NBC-owned USA Network in exchange for another year of "Law & Order" on the Peacock Network.

As it happens, the original series fared well in its 18th season: It debuted in January amid the writers strike with fresh episodes, and averaged a total 10.7 million viewers. That's a major jump, up 19 percent from the previous season (9 million average viewers), according to NBC ratings expert Tom Bierbaum.

It's also a positive sign for a show that peaked in its 2001-02 season with an average viewership of 18.7 million, and has steadily decreased in the ratings as TV began losing viewers to the Internet and other digital phenomena.

Waterston attributed the audience bump to the show's move to Wednesday from Friday, one of the least-watched nights on TV, and to Wolf's talents at keeping it fresh without tinkering too visibly with a tried-and-true format.

"He's a magician. . . . He changed the look of the show, he changed the way it's lit, he changed the way it's shot and the way it's edited, but not so that you go, 'Oh, this is not the same show.' But it's all refreshed," said the 67-year-old actor, citing the increased practice of shooting scenes from different angles and lighting scenarios to provide more options in the editing room.

Waterston, a series veteran alongside Merkerson, takes a laissez-faire approach to the health of the show ("I'm fine with whatever happens") but he'd like to beat the "Gunsmoke" record. *